The Princeton Tigers gave Kentucky all it could handle in the “second round” of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon, hanging with the Wildcats throughout the game. Kentucky was never able to shake Princeton, and looked to be in trouble down five midway through the second half.
But the Wildcats heated up, using an 8-0 run to take the lead back with seven minutes to play. From there, it was back-and-forth action as both teams traded buckets down the stretch.
Again it came down to the wire as Kentucky took a two-point lead into the final minute. Princeton's Dan Mavraides used a nifty move and hit a step-back jumper to tie the game at 57 with just 36 seconds to go, setting up yet another action-packed final sequence. Brandon Knight drove the lane and hit a scoop lay-in, his first bucket of the game, on the other end with just two seconds to go to give Kentucky a 59-57 lead.
Princeton never got off a final shot as Kentucky hung on to advance with a two-point win.
Darius Miller, Josh Harrellson and Terrence Jones were all in double-figures for the Wildcats with 17, 15 and 10 points, respectively. Dan Mavraides, Douglas Davis, Kareem Maddox and Ian Hunter were in double-figures for Princeton with 14, 13, 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Here’s what the East region bracket looks like after two games.
No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 16 Texas-SA
No. 8 George Mason vs. No. 9 Villanova
No. 5 WVU def. No. 12 Clemson, 84-76
No. 4 Kentucky def. No. 13 Princeton, 59-57
No. 2 UNC vs. No. 15 Long Island
No. 7 Washington vs. No. 10 Georgia.
No. 3 Syracuse vs.No. 14 Indiana State
No. 8 Xavier vs. No. 11 Marquette
Check out the rest of the NCAA Tournament bracket over at SB Nation for the latest updates. For the full television lineup, check out our March Madness schedule. Be sure to check back in with our NCAA Tournament results StoryStream for updates throughout the day.